Babies in strollers allowed on Muni buses starting Friday

For any babies or toddlers with very advanced reading skills: You can ride Muni buses from the comfort of your own strollers starting Friday.

After 10 months of hemming and hawing – about how long it takes the average 2-year-old to get dressed each day – Muni has finally changed its policy regarding baby strollers. According to Muni’s on-line customer tips and rules page, “Effective Mar. 1, 2013, Children in strollers are welcome on Muni buses and trains.”

The matter came to light last April when Supervisor David Chiu led the charge to allow babies to remain in their strollers on Muni provided they didn’t block the aisles or space for wheelchair users. Previously, parents were required to fold the strollers, carry their babies in their other arm and were given no access to wheelchair lifts or ramps. That essentially meant seeing a happy parent on board a Muni bus with a baby was as likely as finding an empty seat on the 38 Geary at rush hour.

The entire board voted to recommend that Muni adopt the policy, but for reasons that remain unclear, it hasn’t happened until now. Under the new policy, parents are allowed to use wheelchair lifts and ramps to board buses with their babies in strollers and to keep the strollers unfolded as long as they don’t block disabled passengers’ access to the front seats. Sadly, however, there’s one last public transportation frontier for babies in strollers. They’re still not allowed to ride cable cars.